• Euro 2016 qualifiers

Ramsey hopeful over fitness for Manchester City clash

Aaron Ramsey has his ankle strapped after picking up an injury in Wales' victory over Andorra © PA Photos

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Aaron Ramsey hopes to be fit for Arsenal's testing game against champions Manchester City on Saturday, despite injuring his ankle during Wales' 2-1 win over Andorra.

Ramsey went down injured late on during Tuesday night's win, but said he is looking forward to playing against Manchester City.

The midifielder, who has scored twice in three league games this season, blamed his injury on the artificial pitch, which team-mate Gareth Bale described as "by far the worst pitch I have ever played on".

"I'll be all right - the pitch was very hard - there's no give in it so I rolled my ankle a bit," said Ramsey.

"Hopefully it will be nothing and I'll be available for Saturday. These are the games you want to play in and I'm looking forward to it."

The game will be an early test of Arsenal's title credentials and they will have a point to prove. Their dismal record against the best English sides last season was dismal: they lost all but one of their meetings against the Premier League's eventual top four.

Wales manager Chris Coleman was also hopeful about Ramsey's chances of playing his part in the game.

"He got a kick and there was a twist in his ankle,'' Coleman said of Ramsey's injury. "It was coming to the end of the game and it was pointless taking a risk with him.

"Hopefully he'll be okay for Arsenal at the weekend but we'll have to see what the next 24 to 48 hours hold.''

Coleman was heavily critical of the 3G pitch that staged the Euro 2016 qualifier in Andorra.

"When we trained on it, my heart sunk,'' he said. "In my opinion the pitch is not up to the standard of a Uefa qualifier. But I don't won't want to make a protest because I want other teams to come here.

"I didn't want to say anything about the pitch before the game, but I can now and if you're a passing team, forget it.

"We've played a lot better and lost but you've got to take that pitch into consideration. We could not show our quality but we showed great courage and determination and stayed calm in certain situations when we could have lost our heads.''

Bale was also far from impressed. "It was by far the worst pitch I have ever played on," said Bale. "I can't describe how bad, bobbly and hard the pitch was to deal with."

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